BHP expects: Chile's Spence copper mine to resume its normal level in Jan. 2010

Published: 24 Nov 2009 01:12:37 PST

Nov. 24 MetalBiz—BHP Billiton on November 23 stated that it expects that its subsidiary, Chile's Spence will return to its normal production standard in January 2010, previously, after 42-day strike, strike bringing about the concerns in the market, which makes Chile, the main copper producer, post the wider copper supply disrupt.

Mauro Valdes, spokesman of BHP Billiton noted that workers will start the resuming work late in this week, and the company expected that it will resume producing cathode copper in next week.

He said that BHP Billiton predicted that the company will resume the operation of exploiting and breaking-off equipment.

In 2008, Spence produced around 164,000 tons of copper, and it plans to yield 200,000 tons in 2009.